15 Days: Time for a Lot of Vietnam

Asian Pacific Adventures is offering 15-day tours of Vietnam throughout the year. After a full day of sightseeing in Hanoi, including the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, participants drive through the port city of Haiphong and on to picturesque Ha Long Bay, known as the “Bay of the Descending Dragon.” They will cruise the bay in traditional sailing junks, and view the 3rd century Tay Phuong Pagoda, three ancient two-story wooden houses surrounded by water.

Next, guests fly to Hue, the old imperial capital and cultural treasure house of Vietnam. They will visit the Citadel, the Forbidden City and the elaborate tombs and palaces of Vietnam’s last emperors. Participants climb Marble Mountain for a view of the area, and they will visit the grotto temple. Participants will then fly to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s commercial center, to Visit the Chinatown district of Cholon, with its colorful pagodas, markets and historical museums. One of the highlights is the Cu Chi Tunnels, a complex of underground bunkers northwest of Ho Chi Minh City and near the Cambodian border.

Cost: $2,041 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, breakfast daily, sightseeing, guide, ground and air transportation within Vietnam and two nights’ accommodations in Bangkok.

Contact: Asian Pacific Adventures, 826 S. Sierra Bonita, Los Angeles, CA 90036; telephone (213) 935-3156 or (800) 825-1680.

Wimbledon 1997

Australian tennis pro and Wimbledon champion Bob Howe will host a Wimbledon, England, tour June 22 to 28 to London with Advantage Tennis Tours. Participants will spend five nights at the Westbury Hotel in London and see two days of early round tennis at Wimbledon.

Howe will give tour members an insider’s view of Wimbledon, including entrance to the All England Lawn and Tennis Club. There will be a tennis exchange at the exclusive Queen’s Club, where tour members will be able to play tennis and socialize with its members.

Price: $3,145 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles to London, hotel accommodations, Wimbledon tickets, London city tour, full English breakfast daily and use of Wimbledon Hospitality Lounge. Contact: Advantage Tennis Tours, 33 White Sail Drive, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677; tel. (800) 341-8687 or (714) 661-7331.

Way Down Under

Eva’s Tours is hosting a journey to Australia and New Zealand with an optional side trip to Fiji. The 17-day tour departs Oct. 21.

Participants will start in Auckland, New Zealand, viewing the city from Mt. Eden, then move on to the Glow-Worm Grotto before visiting Rotorua and its Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve. Guests visit the Maori Arts & Crafts Institute near Rotorua, the Rainbow Springs Reserve, a sheep-shearing show at the Agrodome, Huka Falls, Lake Taupo and three volcanoes.

The Inter-Island Ferry takes participants to South Island and, then by motor coach, to Christchurch. Members will visit Canterbury Plains, Mt. Cook, Mackenzie Plains, Lindis Pass and Kawarau Gorge.The group will cruise on Milford Sound. On Day 12 the group flies to Australia for two nights in Melbourne and three in Sydney. The group will cruise Sydney’s harbor, visit King’s Cross, and see koalas and kangaroos at the Taronga Zoo.

Cost: $3,799 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from LAX, hotels, 26 meals and sightseeing. Add-on options are three days to the Great Barrier Reef (Cairns), for $449; or three days in Fiji for $399.

Contact: Eva’s Tours, 27435 Paseo Mimosa, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675; tel. (714) 489-0488.

Work in Guatemala

Join a vacation-with-a-purpose that combines one week of Spanish language study followed by one week of humanitarian service in Guatemala, from June 13 to 29.

With an emphasis on cultural immersion, the group will receive individual language tutoring customized to each student in Antigua while living with host families. Then the participants travel to an indigenous village, Totonicapan, to work with a self-directed Habitat for Humanity International house-building project.

Participants will work side by side with families in need, constructing simple but durable homes of concrete block. There is some free time in the schedule for exploring Antigua and there will be an excursion to the Aguas Calientes ruins, as well as a site visit to a native school.

Cost: $1,495 per person, which includes round-trip air fare to Guatemala through Houston, lodgings, language school fees, ground transportation, medical evacuation insurance, most meals, in-country coordinator charges, leader fees and a tax-deductible donation for construction materials to the host Habitat affiliate.

Contact: Habitat Global Village, P.O. Box 369, Americus, GA 31709; tel. (800) 422-4828, Ext. 543.

Civil War Cruise

Learn about the Civil War on a riverboat cruise on a HistoryAmerica tour for seven nights aboard the Delta Queen from Nashville to Chattanooga, Tenn., on various dates. Stops along the way include: Dover, Tenn., site of the first major Union victory of the Civil War; Paducah, Ky., where more than 42,000 Union soldiers boarded steamboats and gunboats for a military convoy up the Tennessee River to Shiloh, Ohio; Savannah, Tenn., where Union Gen. U.S. Grant defeated Confederate Gens. Albert S. Johnston and Pierre Beauregard after a bloody two-day battle at what is now Shiloh National Military Park; Florence, Ala., a small town that Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood passed through during his 1864 Tennessee campaign, and Decatur, Ala., home of Confederate Gen. Joe Wheeler.

Cost: from $1,630 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, Civil War lectures, films and informal discussion groups and some meals. Air fare is not included. Contact: HistoryAmerica Tours; tel. (800) 628-8542.

Borneo Naturally

See the Dayak tribes and the orangutans of Borneo on a nature and cultural excursion beginning March 16 and June 22. Each trip is two weeks, and includes a river safari and stops at Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Poring Hot Springs, the Turtle Islands, the Gomantang Caves and Singapore. Guests visit a tribal village to distribute school supplies and participate in a sing-along with village children.

Cost: $2,699 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from the West Coast and flights within Borneo, deluxe hotels and all sightseeing. Contact: Escapes Unlimited, 626 E. Chapman Ave., Orange, CA 92866; tel. (800) 243-7227 or (714) 771-3154.

Belly Up to Bali

An eight-night tour to Bali and Yogyakarta, Indonesia, runs April 4 to 14. In Bali, participants will visit Ulu Watu temple, Ubud and Tenganan in East Bali. In Yogyakarta, guests will see the Borobudur ruins, visit batik shops and wooden puppet shops.

Cost: $2,149 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Los Angeles, eight nights’ accommodations, daily American breakfasts and some dinners, ground transportation and entrance fees. Contact: Uniglobe Travel, 225 Avenue I, Suite 110, Redondo Beach, CA 90277; tel. (800) 508-0444.

Warm Mediterranean

Chef Eddie Matney, co-owner of Eddie’s Grill in Phoenix is escorting a cruise/tour of Iberia and the Mediterranean that leaves May 13 and returns May 30.

The first stop is Lisbon, which is the beginning of a one-week bus tour of Portugal and Spain that includes stays in Seville, Granada and Madrid. A short flight to Barcelona then takes participants on a seven-day cruise on the Marco Polo. Ports of call include Cannes, France; Rome, Sorrento and Taormina, Italy; Santorini and Piraeus, Greece, followed by a two-night stay in Athens. Matney will prepare a special five-course dinner for tour guests.

Cost: from $3,215 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Los Angeles, port charges, some meals, transfers and baggage handling.

Contact: Great American Travel, 1110 E. Missouri, Suite 510, Phoenix, AZ 85014; tel. (800) 929-8638.

The Times is not responsible for changes in prices, dates or itineraries. These should be confirmed with cruise lines, travel agents or tour operators.